Her Hero/His Fairy Tale
"Reid. You were her hero."
The words that Derek Morgan had spoken to Reid about their last case, which had been a stalker of a famous actress, Lila Archer, kept ringing in his ears.
Spencer Reid was in his apartment at his desk with some new mail, and he had brought the tabloid magazine of him and Lila on the cover home to put some place for safekeeping.
That entire case had been nagging at Reid all day because he racked his brain for every possible reason or statistic as to why Lila Archer, a famous, beautiful, intelligent woman that was as sexy as any Playboy model that had ever posed had kissed him. She had kissed him.
She had asked him if they were ever in the same vicinity again if they could get together. She had laid her head on his hand when he had put it on her shoulder to silently say goodbye. She had looked at him with… love in her eyes.
'Hero?' thought Spencer Reid as he went from his desk at home to the part of the bathroom that had the mirror. The door next to the mirror was the shower and toilet.
'How could I be Lila's hero? I've never been a 'hero' before,' he thought as he opened his bathroom drawer and pulled out his electric razor to shave the stubble that had grown over the past few days.
Yeah, he had disarmed the UnSub before Lila had been harmed, but that was after Lila had pulled him into the pool and started kissing him. How could she be attracted to him before he was her hero to begin with? And he still doubted if he had been a hero.
He had never been a hero before. When he was 11, he was the tutor for the girl who was a shoo-in for Most Beautiful at their high school. Angela was her name. She was the volleyball/gymnast blonde star that had needed help in chemistry and physics if she had wanted to pass her classes.
Reid had easily succumbed to her beautiful eyes and seductive smile when she had asked him for her help. Of course he helped her. He wanted to ask her to the prom dance at the end of the year. He thought she liked him.
Of course his fairy tale ending didn't happen. Angela had gone with Robert Anthony Hammersmith. Reid cringed when he remembered the entire name of that jock. He had been the basketball captain and the star tall receiver/linestuffer for the football team.
'Or was it wide receiver/linebacker?' Reid thought. Even though he had an eidetic memory, if he really didn't care about something, he'd forget it or at least have trouble remembering it. That's why football never really stayed with him.
The guy had been not just a star athlete, but a star terrorist to Spencer. Spencer corrected him once by accident in a conversation where he had been trying to pick up some chick with history knowledge, and 'Bobby' never let him forget that.
He had been 10 years old at the time for crimedy's sake and yet it didn't matter. He ended up with a concussion and had to miss a few months of school to be in a hospital.
Bobby got away with it because Reid was too terrified of what would happen if he had spoken up. Reid stayed as far away from him as he could, but his horrible misfortune was that Bobby was as smart as he was athletic. He had every advanced class that Reid had, and he made it his mission to screw with Reid at any point he could.
And that jerk took Angela to the prom. Reid remembered the pain like it was yesterday.
OW! Reid realized that as he had been reminiscing his past, he had been shaving too long and he caused his skin to get razor burns.
Reid grabbed a towel from the cabinet in the adjoining shower room, poured water on it, and just cooled the hot skin. He put the razor up and proceeded to take a shower.
The water poured down on his delicate body, and the memories came back again. He had picked out a corsage for her. He had gotten a wonderful tuxedo. He was certain that she liked him. He was so excited about asking her to the prom.
He had just finished their lesson, and she was waiting to get picked up. He built up his courage, and with a smile, he asked her.
He remember the feeling of the invisible force that just shocked his heart when she told him no. It was actually worse that she was sorry about it. It had been better if she was just an evil witch that wanted to use him, but she actually liked him as a…. little brother.
Spencer didn't know how to respond to that, and he didn't have to because a truck beeped and who but Bobby Hammersmith walked out.
Angela said goodbye, hugged Spencer, who was too stunned by what he saw to hug her back. He watched as the most beautiful girl he had ever seen go up to his bully and kiss him on the lips.
Spencer was crushed. There was no consoling him by anyone whether it was his mother or his other family who called him on the phone or whether it was the guys on the debate team. He was in a depression.
Reid pounded his hand against the shower wall as he felt the pain coming back. This was just too much.
He had accepted that he was not very attractive, and what attractiveness he had was negated by his shyness, awkwardness, and his occupation. How many girls are going to jump up at the shot to date a BAU profiler who goes after serial killers?
'Then why did she kiss me? To screw with me?'
Reid was just confused beyond belief; a feeling he was not used to having. He ruled out the idea that she was just leading him on. She was the one who was actually making the moves. She came to him, not vice versa.
Reid smiled as he remembered how we felt in the pool. She had pulled his tie and just started kissing him. One kiss after another; she hadn't forced her tongue down his throat, she was connecting her lips with his one kiss after another.
Despite all the protests from him about impropriety, she kept kissing him. She wrapped her legs around him and grinded him. He felt like he was either dreaming or he had died because there was this angelic figure that was kissing him.
He remembered that he had thought that this had to be some mistake. She should be kissing Derek or even Hotch was closer to her in terms of leagues. She wasn't just outside his league. He thought her league had a Great Wall of China that kept his league out.
Yet… she was kissing him. His instincts took over and he kissed her back, and the kiss felt like it lasted five minutes because he was enjoying it.
Then his brain turned back on and he started rambling about transference.
'That's got to be it!' He thought. I was her bodyguard and she thought she was in love with me. Yet, as he starting rubbing his body with soap, he remembered the look on her face after he had talked about transference.
It wasn't a look of desperation. It didn't scream out for protection. She just stood there with that same sexy smile and that same sexy confident attitude she had that made him stutter and blabber because he was so enamored with it.
"You don't like me?" She asked.
"What?" Spencer exclaimed?
"You don't like me." The way Lila made her statement was one of sarcasm that just said, 'Yeah right.'
"No! Are you cra… of cours.." Spencer stuttered before Lila stated, "I like you."
"I like you too! It's just I'm a federal agent you know, and I'm supposed to protect you." He exclaimed.
"Then keep me close." She whispered to him as she got closer to him.
She just kept kissing him and kissing him despite all his protests of how he was supposed to protect her and they were outdoors.
"We have cops." She replied as if it was the most obvious thing. "We have cops posted out front, coyotes out back, and right here… just you and me."
To this day, Spencer Reid still wonders how he did not just give in to his instincts and just ravish her there.
But, he remembered that her manager, Michael, was dead. He couldn't do it. He realized that he liked her too much to hide this important information from her, and he couldn't take advantage of her despite how he wanted to so badly.
Spencer started washing his hair as the memories kept coming. It still was bugging him as to why she would be attracted to him in the first place.
She was just another Angela. She was too beautiful for him. She was supposed to marry a guy like Brad Pitt or Steve McQueen or Matt Damon. She wasn't supposed to be kissing him.
Yet, she was about to unbutton his shirt and peel off his pants right there. She wanted to take him to her bedroom right then and there.
She liked him. She had said so herself, and he liked her a lot. Not only was she the most amazing thing to ever wear a bikini, but she had talked to him about something intellectual like art. He enjoyed talking to her despite being nervous. He enjoyed looking at her smile and just melting. He enjoyed the soft feel of her skin. He just loved everything about her, even her tendencies to be naïve and pull pranks on him.
He smiled at the thought of her, and frowned when he thought of himself. Here he is an ashen, pencil-thin, muscle lacking, long haired nerd who was falling for the classic perfect woman.
How is it that she could like him? He looked at himself in the shower and he saw his weaknesses and deficiencies, but she acted like she didn't care.
Reid got out of the shower and then went to his unopened mail he had picked up earlier and low and behold was a letter from Los Angeles.
He opened it, and inside were pictures of Lila. She apparently had set up a camera to take them because of how the photo was angled. The first photo was her in a black dress that was strapless and she had her makeup on perfectly. She was blowing him a kiss.
There were other photos. Some were of him and her at the museum where they first met. She must've paid that photographer Martinez for them.
Then there was one last homemade photo. It was her in the same dress, and she was kissing the magazine tabloid with them on the cover and she was kissing his picture.
Inside the envelope was a message that stated:
Hope you got home safe, you didn't kiss me goodbye, so I decided to do it for you. I looked up transference and I wanted to say that you were wrong. I like you Spence for you. If you ever want to see me again, please call me. My number's on the back of the first photo.
Love, Lila.
Spencer picked up the photo and looked at the number. He was still puzzled as to why she had done this.
He was about to go think about it some more and maybe call Gideon to ask for some profiling help and then he remembered what she had said before she had pulled him in the pool.
"Really Spence, you should live a little."
JJ was the only other person to call him Spence. He smiled at that fact that Lila called him that. He liked that about her so much. He didn't know why he did; he just liked how she wasn't so formal with him.
Finally, Reid got it.
He couldn't explain why he liked this about her or why he liked her at all. He couldn't explain it because it was the heart that decided that. Not the brain.
He sat down at his desk and realized that he had been the biggest idiot all day long. Why Lila liked him was something she would have to explain to him with her heart. It wasn't something that he and high IQ could figure out.
'How could I've been so brainless?' He yelled at himself as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Live a little," he muttered to himself.
Spencer Reid thought for a few minutes, and then he made a phone call to the BAU and stated that he would be taking a sick week. He made a few other phone calls to a hotel in Los Angeles, a tour guide for advice, and the airport about his frequent flier miles.
Then he made a final phone call to the woman of his dreams.
"Lila?" He stammered after she picked up.
"Spencer! Hi, what are you up to?" She exclaimed.
"I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be in LA if you wanted to see me for about a week."
"A week? Like me and you for seven days straight Spence?"
"Yeah, I wanted to follow someone's advice and live a little. You up for it?" he teased.
"You bet I am Mr. FBI agent. And before you make any hotel plans, you are staying with me. I won't take no for an answer."
"Okay then, I'll be leaving this Sunday and I'll call you when I'm coming in to the airport okay?
"One more thing Spence, I'd bring a suit this time if I were you."
Spencer blushed and said, "I'll be sure to bring a suit with me. I'll see you then."
"See ya then."
Spencer put the phone down and smiled. He was going to enjoy this vacation for sure.
Three Years Later
Spencer Reid was on a beach recliner outside his house in Quantico, by the wonderful sparkling pool in the backyard, lying down for his nap after he had taken a swim.
On top of him was the beautiful Lila in her green swimsuit that Spencer thought made her look even sexier. They were both still wet and Reid had his left hand in her soaked hair that was on his chest as she used him for a pillow.
Spencer smiled as he closed his eyes and the sun shined down on the two lovers and if you looked closely, you could see the glint from the gold ring on Reid's left hand as he massaged the back of his wife's head.
Lila Archer Reid married her hero.
Spencer Reid got his fairy tale ending.